So What’s in That Ground Anyway?

Prospective commercial, industrial, or residential landowners often stand on a piece of real estate and ask themselves this important question. The RAR Engineering Group helps you find out by conducting a thorough environmental assessment of your site. This assessment involves a simple but detailed process that follows standard ASTM procedures.

In a Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), our team of multi-disciplined professionals conducts a records search through various agencies that will reveal previous problems with the site. We also conduct an on-site analysis or walkaround and identify any areas of environmental concern. Should our search reveal that your property shows evidence of such concerns, the RAR team can assist in the next phase of assessment.

A Phase 2 ESA involves the collection of soil and water samples at your site. We also install ground water monitoring wells if necessary. We run samples from your site through our sister company, Environmental Laboratory Services (ELS), the state-of-the-art laboratory located within our office complex. The speed and efficiency with which we produce analytical results often lowers costs at project sites.

Our Phase 2 ESA will reveal:

• The type and volume of contamination (i.e., soil and/or ground water).
• The extent of contamination to your property and possibly the impact on adjoining properties.

The environmental assessment could end in Phase 2 if the contaminants do not exceed regulatory standards.

Should the contamination at your site exceed regulatory standards, we will enter the Phase 3 ESA process—the remediation phase. We begin this phase by preparing a report detailing our proposed approach to remediate your site. This approach could involve the removal of soil. It might require in situ remediation, which involves the installation of soil and water remediation systems that remove contaminants with minimal surface disturbance and at a lower cost. Our in situ remediation includes the most current technology, often allowing sites with active businesses to continue operation during remediation.

RAR Engineering remediation systems include:

• Soil vapor extraction.
• Air sparging.
• Ground water pumping and treatment.
• High-vacuum extraction.

In addition to our three-phase environmental assessment process, we help our clients utilize brownfield legislation allowances by working through state regulatory agencies. Brownfield legislation (such as Pennsylvania’s Act 2) encourages the renewed use of contaminated industrial sites instead of the development of greenfield sites for the same purpose. The RAR Engineering Group prepares the necessary paperwork and conducts assessment work so that our clients can benefit from the protection provided by brownfield legislation.